What is Hibernate and How to Enable it in Windows 10

enable hibernate in windows 10

Hibernate is a good compromise between Shutting down the PC and putting it into sleep. The first one save the electricity and the latter one is good at saving time. Hibernate tries to make a ground between them by saving electricity and also providing a way to make it possible to work from where you left on your PC.

It is not an exclusive Windows feature, other operating system had it for years. However, Microsoft has disabled it by default in Windows 10 and if you have not heard about this before, this may be the reason.

Before learning to enable and use hibernate, let’s first make it clear to ourselves about what it is and why should you care.

What is hibernate exactly?

Hibernation is a process in which the operating system makes a backup of all data on RAM on a file in hard disk and when the next time the PC is started, reads data from hibernation file and continues where you left from.

Essentially, it is like normal sleep on steroids.

Hibernate is much more energy efficient than Sleeping mode because it completely cuts off the power from the computer and while it is slower than sleep mode on getting back to work, it makes the PC start way faster than a cold boot.

It was first introduced in Windows XP. To put a PC into hibernation mode, you needed to hold CTRL key while clicking on Shut Down button on power menu. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 it was made more accessible, it is located next to Shut Down option.

I don’t know what the reasons are, but in Windows 8 and Windows 10, Microsoft makes it hidden by default. You can make it appear again on the start menu (or Start Screen) after digging a bit in the control panel.  Hibernate is a good enough compromise between Sleep and Shutting down your PC.

How to enable Hibernate in Windows 10?

You can only enable hibernate on a laptop or a tablet. You can’t enable it on a desktop computer. For a desktop computer, you can use an option called Hybrid Sleep which does almost the same as hibernating, however, it won’t cut off the power to components.

To enable hibernate in Windows 10, click on the battery icon in your notification tray. You will see Battery percentages and a couple of other toggles.

From here, click on Power and Sleep Settings

enable hiberante in windows 10

On the next screen, click on Additional Power Settings located on the bottom of Settings Window.hibernate in windows

You will them be taken to control panel. On this screen, search for a link labelled Require a password on wakeup on the left sidebar and click on it.

enable hibernate in windows 10

Depending on your PC you may see a Label “Change settings that are currently unavailable” of there is one click on it, if not – move to next step.

Under the Shutdown Settings, you can find a checkbox located next to hibernate. Click on the checkbox and hit the Save Changes button on the bottom of the window.

enable hibernate in windows 10

After saving the settings, you should be able to see an option to hibernate the computer in Power menu of Start Screen and on the sign-in screen.

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